During
the next eight months, the State Board of Education will make some very
important decisions about how NC will implement ESSA (Every Student Succeeds
Act), including our accountability system, testing, low-performing schools
support, etc. Depending on the State Board’s decisions, the General
Assembly must be involved too.
I
want to give you every opportunity to be involved in making and reviewing
recommendations that may go to the Board. Typically, items are presented
one month for discussion and the next month for action. I invite you to be
a part of a webinar every second Monday each month to share with us your
thoughts and recommendations about pending Board discussion and action. The
first webinar will be held on Monday, Feb. 8, at 3 p.m. Please join us by
registering online.
Also,
during March and April, I will be meeting with you by region. That also
will give you the chance to give feedback. In addition, we have two
superintendents' advisory committees--one for teacher recruitment and
retention/licensure policies and another for accountability and assessments.
Let
me know if you have other ways you want us to involve you.
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State Superintendent Presents Teacher Compensation Proposal
Thanks to the eight superintendents who spoke before the General
Assembly's House Select Committee on Education: Jeff Booker, Gaston; Greg
Little, Mt. Airy; Beverly Emory, Winston-Salem/Forsyth; John Parker, Roanoke
Rapids; Frank Till, Cumberland; Barry Williams, Gates; and Sean Bulson,
Wilson. Please visit my blog to read the remarks that I made to the committee on teacher
compensation. Also, superintendents who attended or
those listening in via audio stream heard a presentation by NCDPI School
Business Director Alexis Schauss on principal compensation.
State Board of Education Meets This Week
The State Board of Education meets this Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 3-4,
in the 7th Floor Board Room, Education Building, Raleigh.
Action items on the agenda include policies governing services for
children with disabilities, recommendations for charter enrollment and grade
expansion requests, recommendations for charter schools expiring in 2016, and a
report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on a multi-year
survey of driver education. Discussion items include program approval
modifications for Institutions of Higher Education, policy recommendations for
the teacher licensure and evaluation process, proposed student perception
surveys, reform for continually low-performing schools, and the Board’s 2016-17
Supplemental Budget recommendations.
The
complete agenda as well as supporting executive summaries are available online by clicking on the SBE Meetings tab.
The meeting is audio streamed for those who cannot attend. To listen, please
visit the above link and click on the live audio streams link to the right.
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School
Turnaround Update; Grant to Evaluate Program Effectiveness
Those of you who
have been in North Carolina for a while know that we have been working on
school turnaround for a number of years in one form or another, operating at
least two prior rounds of turnaround programs.
In response to the
new legislated definition for low-performing districts and schools and the
change in staffing necessitated by the end of Race to the Top funding, NCDPI is
recasting the turnaround program to provide essential support resources in
schools where they are most needed.
As NCDPI staff
implement the new turnaround approach this year, staff also will be using a
grant from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences to
evaluate its effectiveness. The $5 million, five-year effort includes a
partnership between the State Board of Education, Vanderbilt University,
Education Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC) at UNC-Chapel Hill and the RAND
Corporation to investigate the implementation and impact of the new turnaround
plan. The intent is to share the findings from the evaluation regarding
effective approaches that address students, schools and districts.
Additional
information will soon be shared with selected participating districts. NCDPI
staff look forward to our state being able to benefit from this grant and the
academic improvements it will support.
Curriculum
Leaders Survey
Superintendents
are asked to please complete the Curriculum Leaders Survey
regarding the curriculum leaders in your LEA. Staff are updating various lists
and need the most accurate information. The survey should be completed by this
Friday, Feb. 5.
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CTE
Post-Assessment Scores
Due
to rescaling of CTE post-assessments to align with the State Board approved
10-point grading scale, the required score for CTE
post-assessments to count as “Met” for reporting under the Carl Perkins Career
and Technical Education Act of 2006 has been set at 70.
Data
show, on average, student scores
in fall 2015 dropped by about five points over the previous testing period. However,
the letter grade assigned to the student is the same as it would
have been under the old seven-point grading scale. The Proficiency Report in
NCTest was revised effective Jan. 29 to reflect the new cut score.
CTE
will work with EVAAS to make sure teachers are not penalized for the drop in
scores due to the rescaling. CTE administrators received a detailed document
that explains this issue further. This document may be shared with principals,
teachers and other stakeholders.
Feb. 5 is Deadline to Register for NC Dual Language/Immersion
Administrator Seminar
Feb. 5 is the deadline to register for the NC Dual
Language/Immersion (DL/I) Administrator Seminar scheduled for March 9-10 on the
UNC-Charlotte campus.
This seminar is
designed for current program administrators and administrators exploring
implementation options. Day one will begin with a keynote by Thomas and
Collier followed by breakout sessions by North Carolina practitioners. Day
two will provide opportunities to visit a DL/I school.
Once you have
registered and paid the registration fee of $30,
you will receive a survey to sign up for a school visit.
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NCVPS Professional
Development Opportunities
The North Carolina
Virtual Public School will host four webinars in February at no
cost to administrators and teachers who are interested in learning more about
leading, teaching and supporting teachers in an online and blended
environment. All webinars start at 7 p.m. Dates and topics are as follows:
- Feb. 1: Intellectual Property,
Copyright, and Fair Use;
- Feb. 8: Individualization in
Online and Blended Learning;
- Feb. 15: Cyber Bullying; and
- Feb. 29: Assessment and
Feedback for Teachers in Online and Blended Learning Environments.
Mastery
Learning for First-Time Credit Pilot Program
This
program gives schools the option to provide alternative scheduling to students
in special enrollment situations. NCVPS will function as an intervention for
students in these situations. Program details are available online.
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Regional Principals of the Year Announced
Congratulations to the following eight
outstanding public school principals who were recently selected Regional
Wells Fargo North Carolina Principals of the Year and will now compete for the
state title of 2016 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year.
The regional principals of the year are:
- Northeast: William Peele,
Bertie Middle (Bertie County Schools);
- Southeast: Molly White, Lincoln
Elementary (Brunswick County Schools);
- North Central: Matthew Hunt,
Northern High (Durham Public Schools);
- Sandhills: Melody Chalmers,
E.E. Smith High (Cumberland County Schools);
- Piedmont-Triad: Wayne Duggins, South Stokes High (Stokes County
Schools);
- Southwest: Maureen Furr,
South Mecklenburg High (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools);
- Northwest: Kelly Nicholson,
Oxford Elementary (Catawba County Schools); and
- Western: Peggy Marshall,
Sugarloaf Elementary (Henderson County Schools).
Regional winners will each receive $1,000 for
personal use and $1,000 for their schools. The Wells Fargo Principal of the
Year announcement will occur May 12 during a luncheon in Cary. The winner will
succeed the 2015 recipient, Steve Lassiter Jr., principal of Pactolus School
(Pitt County Schools).
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